Gems for October - wk 2
October 7
"Thy hidden ones" (Psalm 83:3)
"And many resorted unto Him (Jesus), and said, John did no
miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true. And many believed on Him there." (John 10: 41-42)
Do the commonest and smallest things as beneath His eye. If you must live with uncongenial people, set to their conquest by love. If you have made a great mistake in your life, do not let it becloud all of it; but, locking the secret in your breast, compel it to yield strength and sweetness.
We are doing more good than we know, sowing seeds, starting streamlets, giving men true thoughts of Christ, to which they will refer one day as the first things that started them thinking of Him; and, of my part, I shall be satisfied if no great mausoleum is raised over my grave, but that simple souls shall gather there when I am gone, and say, "He was a good man; he wrought no miracles, but he spake words about Christ which led me to know Him for myself." - George Matheson.
(Submitted by Dick Gorgas, The Singing Pilgrim (February 24, 2001) - Hidden Workers)
N.J.H. # 3119
October 8
"I can do all things through Christ (who) strengtheneth me."
(Philippians 4:13)
Job or Ministry?
A job is at your choice;
A ministry is at Christ's call.
In a job you expect to receive;
In a ministry you expect to give.
In a job you give something to get something;
In a ministry you return something that has already been given to you.
A job depends on your abilities;
A ministry depends on your availability to God.
A job done well brings you praise;
A ministry done well brings honour to Christ.
(James N. Spurgeon)
N.J.H. # 3120
October 9
"There was one Anna." (Luke 2:36)
"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8)
O Jesus, blest Redeemer, sent from the heart of God,
Hold us who wait before Thee, near to the heart of God. - C. McAfee
Here was a woman whose eyes were not focused on her circumstances. The Roman government in Israel was cruel and oppressive. Corruption was taking place in the Temple. But Anna's eyes were not focused on what was going wrong. Her eyes were focused on the One who would set it right - the One that the Scriptures had promised would come. When the Redeemer of Israel came, she recognized Him for her heart was pure. And her heart was pure because she kept it focused on the Lord and His coming - wondrous circle. Keep your eyes fixed on the Lord Jesus and you will see Him too. (V. Gaynier)
N.J.H. # 3121
October 10
"For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns,
that can hold no water." (Jeremiah 2:13)
From these two great truths - the fact that God may be found and that for certain reasons some never find Him - we draw this inference, namely, that we shall never find God to be a living reality until first of all we feel Him to be an absolute necessity. His complaint against His people Israel was that they committed two evils. (Jeremiah 2:13 quoted above). But these broken cisterns only intensify the thirst which they profess to allay; and the child of God who is seeking satisfaction at them is like a man dropping buckets into an empty well and growing old in drawing nothing up. (George Henderson - Heaven's Cure for Earth's Care)
N.J.H. # 3122
October 11
"For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him." (Colossians 1:16)
"Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness:
by whose stripes ye were healed."
(1 Peter 2:24)
God alone has a right to act as He pleases. He had an only Son, of whom He could say, "He is all my delight;" and if He would make that Son the One on whom all His wrath should fall, who could dare to say to God, "What doest thou?" He is God, and He alone had a right to do what He liked and do it how He liked. If He had a plan in connection with that Son, He must have the cooperation of that Son to carry out His plan, and He had it. Christ came to the cross to die there. (Gleanings From the Teachings of G.V. Wigram)
N.J.H. # 3123
October 12
". . . the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus." (Matthew 1:20, 21)
The Lord has His ways to accomplish His purposes. He uses whatever means He desires to turn the mind and hearts of man towards His purposes. He sends "the angel" to announce His plan to both Joseph and Mary entrusting them with the birth and care of His Son, hence the importance of the messenger. A dream might require interpretation but the angel was clear and direct. God allows nothing to chance in the accomplishment of His purposes. (Submitted by a reader - B.R.)
N.J.H. # 3124
October 13
"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world." (1 John 4:1-3)
The spirit of antichrist is already in the world, and we have to meet it on all sides. It is the spirit which denies man's ruin, and which would exalt him to the skies.
But we have a very blessed statement as to all believers: "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world." The presence of the Holy Spirit in the family of God (for here the "children" takes in all Christians) is a most wonderful fact, and He is infinitely superior to the terrible and restless spirit which is in the world.
They are of the world, and speak according to its principles, and are listened to readily; the false prophets have very often a philanthropic doctrine to propound, the amelioration (improvement) of the whole human race, universal brotherhood, and other very grand schemes; but all these things are of the world, that is, according to its principles. (From Christian Friend, 1894)
N.J.H. # 3125
October 14
"Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith, but they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was." (2 Timothy 3:8, 9)
Jannes and Jambres were the magicians of Egypt who withstood Moses and Aaron in the presence of Pharaoh. When Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, as the Lord had commanded, and it became a serpent, the magicians "also did in like manner with their enchantments." (Exodus 7:10,11) They thus resisted the truth by imitating the action of the Lord's servants; and it is in this way the truth will be, and is being, opposed in the perilous times. It is precisely in this character of opposition that the danger lies for unwary souls. Thus at the present moment all the false systems of men claim that they present all the characteristic truths of Christianity, or that these truths are only expounded in accordance with modern ideas. Satan is too subtle to commence by denying the truth of God; and hence he seeks first of all to insinuate that which seems like the truth, but which, under the expansion of which it is capable, finally ripens into anti-Christian error. This is why the name of Christ is attached, for example, to many soul-destroying systems, and why men, who really ignore every fundamental truth of Christianity, claim to be Christians. (Edward Dennett - Exposition of Second Timothy)
N.J.H. # 3126
